Sorry, just as I was checking out, I saw Bernal enjoying the moment with his younger brother. I think my eyeballs might be sweating. Ta-ra.
So I guess this is it. Thanks all for your company and comments over the last three weeks – it’s been great. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and see you again next year. Au revoir!
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And here’s one celebrating the champ.
Here’s the report of today’s frolics.
Ewan says he had tears in his eyes when they rolled onto the Champs Elysees, and can’t believe he won. The race started badly for him but the second half has been great. He says the finish was messy and he was quite far back but he was patient and went down the right even though he’d been told not to, but had enough speed to get it done.
Ienos pose for photos, Bernal in the middle, resplendent in yellow. Glorious.
The top finishers today:
1. Caleb Ewan
2. Dylan Groenewegen
3. Niccolo Bonifazio
4. Max Richeze
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen
And the top in the general classification:
1. Egan Bernal
2. Geraint Thomas
3. Steven Kruijswijk
4. Emanuel Buchmann
5. Julian Alaphilippe
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Didn’t Ewan enjoy that moment, charging away to celebrate. He and Groenewegen picked separate wings of path, and he had just that little bit more pace.
So there we go! What a Tour it’s been!
Caleb Ewan win the final state of the 2019 Tour! Egan Bernal wins the general classification!
Caleb Ewan is one one! He steals it down the side and on the line!
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Sagan is nicely placed but here comes Groenewegen! He’s gone very early!
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Alaphilippe is at the front, scouting for his mates; Viviani is a little further back than he’d like.
They absolutely cane through the subway and up the hill! Here we go!
Down the side of the Seine they go, Mitchelton-Scott at the front.
There are just so many absolute kings in this peloton. I’ve not a clue what’s going to happen next.
Greg Van Avermaet goes!
There goes the bell and here we go! 6.6km to go!
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“What a fantastic finish,” says Neil Blackshaw. “There is no more beautiful city than Paris, it takes your breath away and it is doing the race proud. What a spectacle.”
Absolutely. Meanwhile, Matthews has to change bikes and is absolutely devastated.
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We’re back in a pack! Nibali leads the peloton.
13.6km to go, or two laps. This is going to be such a finish.
The gap’s down to 11s as just off the front, the teams gather and jostle.
Three laps to go and the front four are still the front four, leading by 20s. Paris is still absolutely poppin’.
There he is! We see Bernal, who gives the camera a V for victory. 22!
The group are 28s ahead now, with 23.9km to go. Could this be a decisive break? Surely not.
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Elite sport during the working day is basically the greatest thing in the world, but worry now – the Ashes is almost upon us.
The front four look strong, lined up and swapping the lead to use the slipstreams. Four laps to go...
It’s getting dark now and the lights are making things look divine. It’s nice.
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They’re setting it up and setting it up; the pace is pretty stiff now, and the sunset in Paris is, frankly, gorgeous. The leaders have 22s with which to play.
Five laps and 33.7km to go.
“I feel strongly that it is important to make a distinction between someone from rich USA or Canada (the North) winning and someone from Latin America winning,” says Paul Sander. “No one would wish to take away anything from Greg LeMond but someone from the South winning is a major achievement and should be acknowledged as such. Proud to be living in Latin America.”
Yes, that’s fair. I guess cycling is more prone to being bought than most sports, on account of the technology that’s such a big part of it.
Tratnik, Fraile, Politt, Scully are the front four; the peloton has caught the rest and the gap is 20s with six laps to go.
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Cosnefroy has caught up with the second little group; the lead is 26s with 46lm to go.
Rosskopf and Van Melsen launch a chase from the peloto and they go around the Arc again.
These lads are about six seconds clear.
Tratnik leads at the moment, from Politt, Fraile and Scully. 48km to go.
“It’s great not just for Colombia but for the whole of the Americas!” says Paul Griffin. “Not since 1989 has anyone from South or North America won this great race. That it’s been won so thrillingly is the icing on the cake. The cherry on top of the icing is that Bernal, like his predecessor Greg LeMond, seems a decent, straightforward person. You wouldn’t want some despicable, bullying, egotistical maniac winning it. Let’s rejoice that that’s never happened”.
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“The Eagle of Toledo will always soar high,” says Gary Naylor.
Paris looks amazing from above, the roads fanning out from the Arc.
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Apparently Chris Froome is ahead of schedule in his rehab, and has started turning pedals over again.
“Just a side story,” says Neil Donovan. “The stage start in Nimes in 40 degree heat, my 13-year-old son started to faint waiting for Peter Sagan to come out of the team bus.
Bora were brilliant. Got him into the bus, doctors making sure he was ok etc etc. Riders letting him get selfies and autographs. Bora - our new favourite team!”
Sport!
Onto the Champs Elysees we go, and the circuits begin with 57.6km to go.
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Into Paris we go as the lads glide through the streets.
What is wrong with people, part 97,503,910?
@DanielHarris Reported in Spanish media today: the bronze statue of Federico Bahamontes (first Spanish winner of TDF in 1959) has been destroyed. The statue was only erected in his home city of Toledo last year. The vandalism is a complete mystery. Very sad. https://t.co/mu2DeEjQUL
— Gareth Thomas (@episcopivaganti) July 28, 2019
Summat else to read.
“I think Paris is fantastic, but used to think it was overrated,” says my colleague Rob Bleaney. “A mate moved there and numerous trips have changed my perspective.”
It’s the feelgood story of the summer! Right, I want to go to Paris now. See ya!
“Really appreciate the Tour coverage you provided,” says William Hill. “Grateful. Bernal and Ineos were awesome, yet Sagan’s feat is maybe as great - even more so. Maybe overlooked with all the attention directed at yellow. Anyway, thanks for your terrific coverage and look forward to 2020.”
All these lads are absolute freaks of nature.
Caleb Ewan has never ridden the Champs Elysees so doesn’t know where the smoothest bits are. He’s hoping to find out.
66.6km to go - freaky.
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We see a crew of Colombians, who cheer their man on. What a feeling that must be.
Bloody hell, the Vuelta starts in less than a month. They’re not right, these lads.
“As a Colombian passing thru Tunisia I could only watch German TV to follow the Tour in France,” says says Andres Rengifo. “Just got tired saying all of that! You guys were brilliant, and often your sport and non-sport commentary was the subject of conversation with my friends and fam here and everywhere.
Choked up to watch my boy Egan Bernal win at 22 his first Tour de France, and the first one by a Latin American cyclist since..EVER. I still remember back in the 80s when we would wake up early to listen to the Colombian radio broadcast from the interminable climbs of the Alps and the Pyrenees, the time trials, the treacherous stages with pavé in Normandy, the falls, the withdrawals, the fevers, and at last, les Champs Elysees. Chochise, Lucho, Fabio, Condorito, Santiago, Nairo, Rigo, Estaban, Fernando, so many names, so much glory.
Here: fresh new sound that is just like the one from my childhood. Que viva Colombia carajo!”
Thanks Andres!
Historique! @EganBernaal remporte @LeTour de France. 1er Colombien de l’histoire à inscrire son nom au palmarès de la grande boucle. Émotion intense pour ce journaliste colombien #tourdefrance2019 #frissons #emotion #TDF2019 #veloRTBF #rtbfsport pic.twitter.com/LGGaRTEiKx
— Kevin Paepen (@kpaepen) July 27, 2019
79.2km to go as a weirdo on the pavement leans into the cyclists’s faces. What makes people do that?
“I applaud your coverage these past three weeks,” says Loretta Ebert. “I am in the US and have been hospitalised with a fractured pelvis and your commentary and input from others has kept me sane. The race itself was one of the best in last few years and I applaud Alaphilippe’s courage. I was sorry to see Pinot’s abandonment. He might have made for a thrilling end in the last two stages. As for Paris, a great city but agree the food is overrated.”
Gosh, hope you’re on the mend.
We’re coming up to Versailles so let’s have a Versailles fact: despite not being in the capital, and not having been home to a royal family for quite sometime, it canes Buckingham Palace for number of visitors.
Sagan and his domestique are at the front, Nibali behind them.
“Am a touch biased, but 100% agree with your friend-Colombia is grrrreat,” reckons Dav Matter.” I cycle the same roads as Egan near Bogotá, but currently following the blog from a bus in the Coffee Region, hoping to get to a lovely spot called Salento in time for the coronation.”
Greater even than Frosties?
“Just so you know, Colombia is better than Brazil,” says Luke Webb, “especially if you are a cycling fan. Every Sunday they close roads & open them up to cyclists and runners. There’s a 15km 5% climb in Medellin where they close one lane (See last stage of this year’s Tour Colombia).”
91.8km to go. Everyone’s having a nice time.
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“ As others have said, thanks for the Tour coverage,” says Gilman Miller. “I’m no tour historian but my general observations on what made this tour stand out are, first, only one individual time trial and not a terribly long one (this helped Egan limit his losses, and meant that time trialing was not the most valuable skill in determining the winner), the team time trial is stupid, and I would expect and hope that future tours will have a couple time trials again. Second, the Alps/final mountain stage coming right at the end meant that so much more was in balance till the end, I feel like in most past tours the last few days before Paris have been without mountain drama. Third, I think that because JA was not considered a GC threat he was allowed to gain more time than was wise at the outset, and because he climbs pretty well and time trials very well, he managed to hang on to it longer than anyone imagined. Fourth, Froome’s injury seemingly made Ineos less dominant, and Ineos still had to deal with a two-headed team leader, which led to confusion, and less dominance, no real boss of the tour and its pace. Imagine if Froome was there and the two leaders were him and G, with Egan left to be their super mountain helper, following team orders and not pursuing his own glory?”
Nicely done. We had a teacher at school called Mr Gilman, and he was once on what was known as bus-stop duty. This involved making sure everyone - and we’re talking around 1000 kids - got onto buses going down Camden Road in orderly fashion. Part of the job was also making sure members of the public were allowed to get on first, and he once ushered someone on, who took exception to the effrontery of being told what he could do. So he gave him a slap. I’d like to say no one laughed.
“I used to be in the overrated camp,” says Michael Ireton of Paris. ‘Then I studied art and architectural history. Now firmly--VERY firmly--in the great city camp. So much art and architecture to see, from age-old to cutting edge contemporary.”
I think it was doing A-level European history post-1814 that did it for me, then doing revolution stuff at university. There’s such a sense of serious stuff having happened on the streets.
Steven Kruijswijk is pretty chuffed with his third place. “A great feeling,” he says.
“Today’s not the day for a punch-up,” says Drew Goldie, “so apologies for this, but if Guy Hornsby didn’t think last year’s Tour was gripping (vis. his reference to Thomas’s speech) I think he’s missing out. The race up to La Rosiere when Thomas took yellow was amazing; and throughout the race no-one - not Froome/Thomas/Sky/their opponents, especially Du Moulin, and me - knew if Froome would eventually fire, and the tension was wonderful. I actually thought Du Moulin might exploit the Sky uncertainty, but it turned out that Thomas exploited Du Moulin’s. Add the usual baffling Movistar tactics, and the permutations were endless. I know it’s fashionable, and very correct, to bemoan the Sky years, and only good manners has prevented most from cheering that Froome’s not here, but last year’s race was compelling.”
It’s always the day for a punch-up.
Just over 100km to go. Dey Bardet, king of the mountains, takes some congratulations.
Paris, then. Overrated, or one of the greatest cities in the world? I’m the former and my missus is closer to the latter. I’d agree with her that the food is overrated - too rich, too bland - but the history is so emotionally overwhelming and there are very few cities of which that can be said.
“Thanks to the Guardian live blog team,” says the Costa Brava’s Gareth Thomas. “As I’m watching the TDF in a bar, it’s too noisy to hear the Spanish commentator. With the visuals on the big screen, the commentary from the Guardian live blog, and of course a cold beer, it all works fine!”
I just had a swing of water in my north London box room, so we’re in the same zone.
I have a friend who reckons that Bernal’s Colombia is the greatest country in South America. I find it hard to see how anywhere can be better than Brazil (the obvious criticism ignored for a moment). Am I wrong?
WARNING: minor Anglo-Saxon.
💚 Photobomb level 💯 from @petosagan!#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/7l2990deMu
— Le Tour de France UK (@letour_uk) July 28, 2019
“He didn’t really get ‘that’ close,” tweets Jeremy CP. “Full stages yesterday and Friday and he may have been 10-20+ minutes down. For a Frenchman, talk about Pinot not Alaphilippe.”
Yes, fair enough.
Wiggins is with Brailsford, who says winning never gets old, and agrees that Bernal’s maturity exceeds his age. It’s extremely revealing stuff.
114.4km to go.
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“This has honestly been the most enjoyable Tour for many many years,” reckons Guy Hornsby. “And I say this as a huge British cycling fan who’s been spoilt with a cavalcade of victories in Grand Tours since Wiggins broke through. While those were massive for cycling, the means in which they were achieved were seldom memorable, even with G last year (his winner’s speech was probably the highlight of the race). Sky’s dominance sapped so much enjoyment out of those wins. But this year they struggled to control things, and the race erupted into flamboyance, chaos and attacks, with a leader no one foresaw and a winner most didn’t expect for a few years. It’s almost a shame he’s part of the Ineos machine, but perhaps he wouldn’t have won without it. So thanks for the panache, Julien, the effort G, the climbs Pinot, and the skills, Egan. What a win. Thanks for you lot all too, for making the MBM such fun. My money’s on Caleb Ewan next.”
Yes, agreed - sport needs jeopardy.
“Hello Daniel,” says Alan Amos. With regard to your comment, ‘I wonder if Alaphilippe can make the necessary improvements between now and next term, or if it’s just a physiological hurdle that he’ll never overcome’: Would he want to try? As far as I can see it, neither he nor his team were aiming at GC in this Tour, nor have Quick-Step had a rider that was capable of taking on such a challenge in the decades that the team has existed. To radically change the aims of the team towards GC in a grand tour for next year would be such a change I couldn’t imagine it happening: at the same time, I can’t see Alaphilippe leaving them. We’ll see what happens next...”
Yes, but he got so close – I know he sort of said he never thought it was on, but the way he responded on the first Alp stage suggested to the contrary. Once people have had a taste...
What could they do to make this stage more of a thing and less of a jaunt? Wild animals en route?
Sagan photobombs Bernal and Ineos’ moment, then they raise glasses and guzzle.
Bernal has another, and Thomas enjoys one too. More news as I get it.
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We see it slowmo and actually that’s a pretty good neck from yerman, hurled straight down, no fuss.
Bernal has champagne in his hand, and clinks flute with whoever’s in the car next to him. He sees it away, lad that he is.
Wiggins says the bonhomie on this stage gets boring after a bit. “You just wanna race.”
The stage starts! Alaphilippe pretends to attack, wag that he is.
I wonder if Alaphilippe can make the necessary improvements between now and next term, or if it’s just a physiological hurdle that he’ll never overcome.
It’s another belting day in France, after that little mountain interlude. Bernal and Alaphilippe blather togather, which is nice to see.
Off they head to the start. Bernal looks pretty relaxed, all things considered.
The boys are gathered on the line...
Preamble
It’s been an absolutely vintage Tour, packed with all manner of drama, desolation and controversy – an absolute joy, basically. And in Egan Bernal, cycling has a popular and deserving winner who might just take the sport to new people and places. He’ll enjoy a relaxing little jaunt into Paris this evening, while the sprinters do the work and we blather blather to each other.
Start: 5.10pm BST, 6.10pm local time.
Reading: This.
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